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In the Mid-1860s… Civil War Era Paper DOlls in Color

May 21, 2020January 14, 2013

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Here we are today with the colored version of last Monday’s post. Color for historical garments is complicated, because colors are very much a matter of taste and a matter of time. Just as the avocado and burnt orange polyester shirts of the 1970’s seem dated to us today, the colors of the past are rarely how we imagine them to be. I always picture the Victorians in tones of sepia, not because that was what they wore, but because I always see sepia photographs. I once had a professor point out that the way we picture the past has little to do with how the past actually was, but I enjoy my fantasies of the past as much as the next person.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

For this set of paper dolls, I chose to use colors from reproduction quilting cottons as a basis for the garment. They turned out to be a little muddier than perhaps I would have chosen on my own, but I wanted something different than the oranges, blue, pink, and green combination of colors I find myself most often drawn too. The ballgown in pink and black is based on the fashion plate which I drew it from, though I made a slightly darker version of the original.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

I’ll confess openly that I’m not entirely pleased with how some of these came out in color. I went muted and I think that was the right call, but I’m not sure that I didn’t lose some of the lusciousness and the vibrancy of the era. They also came out less romantic than I had hoped they would be. I do think Margot is awfully cute with her freckles and red hair (yes, I do have a weird thing for redheads). In truth, I am pleased with both the dolls. I think Marisole is a warm brown this time and I like how Margot came out. All in all, though I had some second thoughts about drawing a new face for Marisole, I am pleased with Margot and I think she’ll show up a bit more around the blog.

On an unrelated note, child paper dolls have pulled into the lead in the polling… a fact which I am very much surprised by.

Magnetic Marisole… A New Layout for New Year

October 21, 2019December 31, 2012

Everything about the magnetic paper dolls is getting revamped this year.

The old Magnetic Paper Doll Index has now been replaced with a new version that resembles the Printable Paper Doll Index much more closely. This is an attempt to streamline updating the magnetic paper dolls, allowing me to do more single sheet updates, like I do with the other printable paper dolls on the site, but it is still a work in progress.

Magnetic paper or adhesive sheets are more expensive than printer paper (as I am sure anyone who has ever printed them out has learned) and so I have re-organized the Marisole Magnetic Paper Dolls to have the shoes on the same sheet as the paper dolls. This means that they are now three dolls per sheet with four pairs of shoes and required re-doing the layouts on all of the magnetic sheets.

I just finished that, so I am posting them today instead of a traditional Marisole Monday update. You can see them here.

The Magnetic Marisole Printable Paper Dolls

{ Directions for Making Printable Magnetic Paper Dolls }

The Dolls


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Contemporary Clothing Sets


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Fantasy Clothing Sets


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Historical Clothing Sets


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Everything here has been adapted from paper version of the printable Marisole posts, except for the shoes and the magnetic dolls, many of which have been re-colored to provide for the six different skin tones. If anyone has requests for skin tones which don’t appear here, please let me know. I try to have as much diversity in skin tone as is possible.

Thoughts? Feel free to comment. I know I don’t always answer every one, but I do read them all.

Dictionary Girl’s get Ruffled Paper Doll Clothes

May 21, 2020October 25, 2012

Confession time: This might be the last Dictionary girl paper doll post for a while.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series} {Click Here for the Dolls to Dress}

I have been feeling really ambiguous about my Dictionary Girl paper dolls lately and I haven’t even been able to get myself excited about drawing for them. Originally, I wanted to do this fun vintage thing which I did, but lately I’ve been feeling less then inspired. Their feet freak me out and I’m not in love with their faces. The truth is that I have moved towards a more cartoon style of drawing lately and these dolls feel… forced and awkward.

I’m really divided about this, because I think it’s important to have paper dolls of all body types and I think it’s important to show that healthy figured women are… well… healthy, but on the other hand… I’m having trouble getting excited about them…

You know, I feel like I’m writing an awkward break up letter… “It’s not you. It’s me.”

Anyway, I’m taking a break from these girls to see if inspiration strikes and if it doesn’t, I might be slipping them into the retired section with Curves paper dolls the first version, Flora the Regency paper doll and Florence the 1870’s paper doll.

But I do want to know how people feel about this and I was going to do a poll, but instead I thought I would just ask.

How important is it for the site to have a full figured printable paper doll? And if I decide on a different one than the Dictionary Girls, how would people feel?

Calla in Colors… Peaches and Ice

May 21, 2020October 18, 2012

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Originally, I was going to call this peaches and cream, but I already used cream, so I had to come up with something else to call it. I’d say what I thought of this color set in detail, but I don’t want to influence people. Needless to say, I do really like the two tone blouse and I think it changes the look of the garment considerably.

I think it’s interesting what this soft color palette does for the edgy clothing. Very different look from the other sets.

And since we’ve had the whole set of Calla’s posted this this week, I’m curious if people’s favorites turned out to be the ones they thought would be their favorites based on the swatches. Peaches and Ice was winning the swatch poll, but on the actual paper dolls it’s not my favorite. What do other people think?

Striped Paper Doll Clothes

May 21, 2020September 19, 2012

Clearly, I thought that the Dictionary Girl’s needed to get a little more rough and tumble…. so here they are… rough and tumbling (Is it just me or does that sound like a sexual innuendo?).

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series} {Click Here for the Dolls to Dress}

I feel as though I need to say this, since I seem to get a lot of comments or questions that start with an apology- Please ask me question. Please make requests. Please feel free to inquire if I’ve ever done a style or a kind of paper doll. I will respond. I might take a few ~~weeks~~ days but I do try to get back to people.

Not promising that I’ll do a certain style of paper doll, but I try to reply as much as I can to comments and am grateful for everyone I receive.

I just thought I should state that somewhere.

On a fairly unrelated note, it is Speak Like a Pirate Day, so I went in search of a few pirate paper dolls. The pickings were not impressive. Final Fantasy Paper Dolls Made by Animama depict several of the Final Fantasy characters (none of whom I confess I know), but have some stylish pirate wear and fair number of other tongue in cheek outfits.

Lady Pirate Paper Doll depicts a beautiful black and white winged lady pirate. There are other printable paper dolls as well.

Flock Modern Girl: Magnetic Paper Dolls

May 21, 2020June 19, 2012

So, I know I said these would be up last week (or maybe the week before that), but some things came up and I didn’t get around to it. The irony is that I drew this set last year and it’s been sitting on my desktop waiting to be finished for a while.

I tried to make sure each page of this set was a consistent color scheme, so that each page can be printed and played with alone, along with combining with the other pieces in the set. I walso wanted to play a little with the options of a magnetic set of paper dolls which are different than the options for a non-magnetic set of paper doll. I think magnetic paper dolls have interesting options, but are not the same as paper paper dolls for various reasons.

**The Modern Girl Set PDF Downloads**

Dove PDF Download	Oriole PDF Download	Phoebe PDF Download

Robin PDF Download	Starling PDF Download	Wren PDF Download

Clothing Set 1 PDF Download	Clothing Set 2 PDF Download	Clothing Set 3 PDF Download

Clothing Set 4 PDF Download	Clothing Set 5 PDF Download	Clothing Set 6 PDF Download

Clothing Set 7 PDF Download	Clothing Set 8 PDF Download

Pencil Skirts and Other P Things: Paper Doll Clothes

October 21, 2019December 14, 2011

First things first- These are not historically accurate.

Now, I must say I do love skirts. I’m beginning to learn how much I love them in the last few months. I’ve started wearing them a lot more and I am really enjoying it. Pencil skirts are wonderful, because they are simple and easy and go with everything. Of course, I don’t own a crazy purple one (though I did really want a green tweed one until it was pointed out that it went with nothing else I own).

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series} {Click Here for the Dolls to Dress}

As with all of the Dictionary Girls paper dolls, the color of the stand should match up with the paper doll whose skin tone will match the shows and the color of the tabs match the hair to the doll they are intended for. The hair styles are more interchangeable than the shoes, due to that pesky skin tone problem.

These shoes and wigs are intended for Alyssa and Chiharu . I still feel like they need a larger wardrobe before I begin to make more dolls- though I would like to make a brunette with blue eyes soon, but that will have to wait until finals are over- so sometime next week.

Mint and Roses: A Printable Paper Doll

May 21, 2020September 26, 2011

I am so happy to announce that Kat’s comment, number seven was the number which random.org decided was to be the winner of my drawing. Congratulations Kat and please email me [paperthinpersonas (at) gmail (dot) com] with a description and reference photos of what sort of paper doll you would like. And your paper doll doesn’t have to be a Marisole, it can be any of the paper doll series I draw (Pixie, Dictionary Girls, or Shadow and Light.)

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

Today’s Marisole paper doll has what I think of as my medium brown with cool undertones skin color and orange hair. It seemed like a good idea at the time… (mind you, “the time” was nearly midnight). I do love her muted, spring soft color palette, I’m just unsure about her hair/skintone combo. What do other people think?

In other news, I have had so much fun reading people’s comments and they have all made me smile. I thought I would post my favorite ten (okay, eleven) Marisole paper dolls in reverse chronological order. If you’re interested keep reading below. If you’re Kat, please email me. Otherwise, have a fantastic Monday and enjoy the paper doll.

More Here

Kelli- Warrior Paper Doll Printable

May 21, 2020September 11, 2011

It’s late on a Saturday and I have really nothing intelligent to say about this. I sort of dropped off the face of the Earth for a week, which I try not to do on the blog. It’s just been a busy week with house sitting some animals and classes. So, I guess I’ll keep it short and sweet.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series}

Enjoy the paper doll, she looks a bit like a Xena Warrior Princess reject and I hope to be back to a regular posting schedule this next week with Marisole and some actual clothing for Curves 2.0 (I know, hard to imagine) and some new Shadow and Light paper dolls too. And maybe, if I get them finished, some new magnetic paper dolls as well.

Until then, enjoy Kelli, Warrior Paper Doll.

Curves 2.0 The Beginning…

May 20, 2020July 27, 2011

When I started this blog, the temptation was to name all of my paper dolls after Greek letters. So, there could be Alpha and Beta and Omega and others. However, I decided that they would end up sounding like some sort of strange paper doll SWAT team.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a 150 dpi PNG to Print} {Click Here for The Rest of this Series} {Click Here for The Dolls to Dress}

On an only slightly less surreal note, I have decided to give each of the Curves 2.0 dolls a name based on a letter of the alphabet. So, today we have the first paper doll. Her name is Alyssa. She’s a redhead for I openly confess to having a soft spot for redheads. Her skin looks overly pale on some computers and normal on mine, so I can’t really say much about that. I’ve decided to call the paper dolls “Dictionary Girls” after the idea of “Calendar Girls” which dates from the tendency for there to be pin-ups on calendars.

The plan is to have another paper doll for next week and then some clothing for them the week after so that aren’t running around in their underwear, poor dears.

PS: To everyone who wanted these dolls to be done in the heavily shadowed style of the old Curves sets, there’s another new series starting Friday which will replace Flora and will be in that style.

Boldly Going… A Star Trek Paper Doll

May 20, 2020July 11, 2011

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

Blame my mother.

This is all her fault.

She is the reason I love Star Trek and part of the reason I love paper dolls. When I was a child, I was allowed to stay up half an hour later with her to finish watching Star Trek: The Next Generation if my teeth were brushed and I was in my nightgown. When I was in middle school, I started watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Recently, I have begun to watch the original series on DVD from the library. In short, I am a bit of a Trekkie- though I like to think a fairly harmless one.

I am sure true die-hard Trekkies could tell me everything that I got wrong on these paper dolls, but I can’t really be bothered to care. I will say this though- finding a decent reference photograph for the shoes worn by those characters was a pain in the behind and I’m still not sure I got them right. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. Feet are not often shown in television episodes.

I heard somewhere (trustworthy source that) that there was a rule in Star Trek that you weren’t supposed to show any fasteners. I don’t really get why. I mean, lacing up clothing has been done for centuries, not to mention buttons. I figure people would hard pressed to invent a better system, but I suppose it does subtly convey the sense of “futuristic” in an interesting way.

Neapolitan Ice Cream: Steampunk Printable Paper Doll

May 20, 2020May 16, 2011

I don’t normally start with a color scheme. I normally start with an idea and then worry about how to color it, but with this paper doll set I started with a color scheme. I knew I wanted to do something with browns and creams. The pink came from the desire to pick a contrasting color that was warm rather then cool.

{Click Here for a PDF to Print} {Click Here for a PNG to Print} {Click Here for the rest of this series}

I decided to name this paper doll set after that ice cream with the vanilla, chocolate and strawberry stripes that I always used to think was called Napoleon Ice Cream, but I realized later that it actually had nothing to do with short militaristic Frenchmen and was actually called Neapolitan Ice Cream after the city of Naples. So, I’m glad I found that out before I wrote this post and sounded like a total ditz. I take some pride in only being a partial ditz.

I’m actually quite pleased with how this paper doll came out. I really like the contrast of the red hair with the brown and pink color scheme, though I confess I originally tried her out with every other hair color since I felt like I have done a lot of redheads and then I gave up and decided didn’t care. I’ve likes redheads ever since I saw Anne of Green Gables on TV as a child.